1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication devices and more specifically to a technique for identifying a received call.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional cellular mobile telephone systems, when a mobile telephone is called, the telephone number of the calling party is transmitted to the called unit and displayed on that unit to allow the called user to identify the calling user before he answers the call. Therefore, mobile users can determine whether a received call is from a known personnel or not.
However, because of the portability of mobile phones, their display panel is too small to display called digits in sufficiently large size to allow users to quickly recognize the received phone number. This often causes users to answer calls dialed by a wrong number.
The mobile phone unit disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 10-145475 pre-stores calling party""s phone numbers in a registration memory. When the user is alerted by receipt of a call, it contains the phone number of the calling unit and the control unit determines whether the phone number of the calling party""s is stored in the registration memory. The control unit turns on the liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and illuminates it with a green background light which is stored in a background color setting memory if the calling party""s phone number is stored in the registration memory. Otherwise, the control unit illuminates the LCD panel with red background light.
Although the user can determine whether or not a received call is registered, he still has to look closely into the display panel to read the displayed phone number digits.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device and method of communication for providing individual color background lighting for incoming calls for allowing users to identify the originating source of a call without having the trouble of reading displayed phone numbers.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication device comprising a memory for storing a plurality of source identifying information for respectively identifying calling sources and a plurality of color information corresponding to the plurality of source identifying information, receiving circuitry for receiving a call, detecting circuitry for detecting, in the memory, source identifying information identifying the source of the received call, and a lighting arrangement operable according to the color information stored in the memory corresponding to the detected source identifying information.
Since the lighting arrangement gives off light of a color that is unique to a particular calling source only when the source identifying information of the source is stored in the memory, the owner of the communication device can readily identify the calling party.
According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a communication device comprising a keypad, a lighting arrangement, and a memory in which a plurality of source identifying information are stored for identifying calling sources. Control circuitry is responsive to color setting signals from the keypad for energizing the lighting arrangement and storing, in the memory, a plurality of color information corresponding to the plurality of source identifying information. When a call is received, the control circuitry makes a search through the memory for detecting source identifying information identifying the source of the received call, and energizes the lighting arrangement according to the color information stored in the memory corresponding to the detected source identifying information.
According to a third aspect, the present invention provides a communication device comprising a keypad, a lighting arrangement, a first table for storing a plurality of source identifying information identifying calling sources, and a second table. Control circuitry is responsive to color setting signals from the keypad for energizing the lighting arrangement and storing a plurality of color information in the second table corresponding to the plurality of source identifying information. In response to an assignment signal from the keypad, the control circuitry selects color information from the second table and energizes the lighting arrangement according to the selected color information, and sets the selected color information in the first table corresponding to one of the plurality of source identifying information. In response to a call, the control circuitry makes a search through the first table for detecting source identifying information identifying the source of the received call, and energizes the lighting arrangement according to the color information set in the first table corresponding to the detected source identifying information.
According to a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a communication method comprising the steps of storing, in a memory, a plurality of source identifying information for respectively identifying calling sources and a plurality of color information corresponding to said plurality of source identifying information, receiving a call, making a search through said memory for detecting source identifying information identifying the source of the received call, and producing a color illumination according to the color information stored in said memory corresponding to the detected source identifying information.
According to a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a communication method for a terminal device which includes a keypad, a lighting arrangement, and a memory having a plurality of source identifying information respectively identifying calling sources, the method comprising the steps of energizing the lighting arrangement and storing, in said memory, a plurality of color information according to color setting signals from said keypad corresponding to said plurality of color information, receiving a call, making a search through said memory for detecting source identifying information identifying the source of the received call, and energizing the lighting arrangement according to the color information stored in said memory corresponding to the detected source identifying information.
According to a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a method for a communication device which includes a keypad, a lighting arrangement, a first table in which a plurality of source identifying information are stored for respectively identifying calling sources, and a second table, the method comprising the steps of energizing the lighting arrangement and storing a plurality of color information in said first table according to color setting signals, selecting color information from the second table in response to an assignment signal from said keypad and energizing the lighting arrangement according to the selected color information, and setting the selected color information in the first table corresponding to one of said plurality of source identifying information, receiving a call, making a search through said first table for detecting source identifying information identifying the source of the received call, and energizing the lighting arrangement according to the color information set in said first table corresponding to the detected source identifying information.